WFTO-TV
WFTO-TV, Channel 24, is an Independent Station serving the Liberty City and Alderney City Broadcast Area. It operates on Channel 24 (Analog) and Channel 57 (Digital). Station History WFTO-TV was founded on December 17th, 1994, but signed on two years later on July 1st, 1996. When the station originally signed on, it signed on as an independent and only had a handful of shows to air. Some classic sitcoms such as Diff'rent Strokes, Growing Pains, and The Cosby Show, some game shows such as Family Feud, and movies were some of the first programs shown on Channel 24. WFTO-TV originally opted not to form a news department, fearing competition from then FOX affiliate WLFO as well as former WB affiliate WLCT, but eventually WFTO premiered a 10 o'clock newscast on May 21st, 1998 titled 24 NewsPulse @ Ten. In 2000, WFTO, formed a 2 hour morning news show titled 24 NewsPulse This Morning from 7 am to 9 am. WFTO eventually drew away from classic sitcoms in favor of talk shows such as Dr. Phil and Live! With Regis and Kelly and more recently, talk shows like The Doctors, Rachel Ray, and Steve Harvey began appearing on the station's schedule. Starting in 2004, WFTO started airing a 5:00 pm newscast and expanded their morning newscast from 7 am-9am to 6 am-9 am. In 2005, WFTO began airing weekend newscasts starting with 24 NewsPulse This Morning which aired Saturday and Sunday Mornings from 7 am to 10 am. And a 10pm Newscast on both Saturday and Sunday Evenings. Beginning in 2006, WFTO made more expansions with their news department by adding a one hour, 4:00 pm newscast, a 6:00 pm newscast, a 30 minute noon newscast and pushing their morning newscast back one hour earlier, now airing in a 4 hour time span. In 2007, the 5 pm and the 6 pm newscasts were now shown on weekends. In 2008, 2 new locally produced shows were put on the air. One of which was a one hour public affairs talk show called Your Voice, Your City airing on Sunday Mornings and a 30 minute sports program which airs on Sunday Nights titled Sports Blitz Sunday. In 2010, WFTO upgraded news programming and programming to HD and made more expansions starting with the morning news cast; expanding it to 5 hours, beginning at 4 am and ending at 9 am. Expansions were also made to other news casts on WFTO: An hour long noon newscast, an hour long 5:00 pm newscast, an hour long 6:00 pm newscast, an hour long 10:00 pm newscast and a 11:00 pm newscast. Beginning on June 1st, 2015, WFTO will be re branded as "The 'FTO 24" and will unveil a new logo. Despite these changes, programming and news operation as it is will not change. The last program that will use the old logo will be Leverage airing at 3 am on Monday Morning, June 1st, followed by the usual five hour block of morning news. The first program that will use the new logo will be Rachel Ray airing at 9 am on Monday Morning, June 1st. Along with the branding changes, WFTO premiered an OTA network, Escape, airing on digital subchannel 24.4. Programming WFTO airs game shows such as Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Celebrity Name Game, talk shows such as Dr. Phil, The Doctors, Steve Harvey, The Meredith Viera Show among others, as well as reruns of off network shows such as Hot in Cleveland, Cougar Town, and The Andy Griffith Show. Entertainment Tonight, Extra and other Newsmagazine shows are also on WFTO's Schedule. News Operation WFTO currently broadcasts 67 Hours of news programming each week, one of the highest amounts in the Liberty City DMA alone. In addition to news programming, WFTO produces Your Voice. Your City, a Sunday morning public affairs program that airs at 10 am; Sports Blitz Sunday, a Sports-related program airing Sunday Nights at 11:30 pm; and Know Your Rights, a phone-in show discussing certain legal topics which airs Sunday Nights at 10:30 pm. WFTO operates a Bell LongRanger 206L newsgathering helicopter titled "Chopper 24". WFTO has had a doppler radar (supplied by Advanced Design Corporation) since 2001 and currently, WFTO owns and operates a Baron Services live doppler radar at their station, originally installed in 2008; then upgraded in 2011. WFTO also has a partnership with local radio station WJSM-FM. WFTO weather forecasts, hourly news updates and live audio simulcasts of severe weather can be heard on WJSM-FM. Logo History Newscast Titles 24 NewsPulse (1998-2006) * 24 NewsPulse @ Ten (1998-2006) * 24 NewsPulse This Morning (2000-2006) * 24 NewsPulse Live @ Five (2004-2006) 24News (2006-2010) * 24News This Morning (2006-2010) * 24News Live @ Noon (2006-2010) * 24News First @ Four (2006-2010) * 24News Live @ Five (2006-2010) * 24News Live @ Six (2006-2010) * 24News Live @ Ten (2006-2010) * 24News Weekend (2007-2010) News 24 (2010-Present) * News 24 First Edition (2010-Present) * News 24 DayBreak (2010-Present) * News 24 Sunrise (2010-Present) * News 24 Live @ Noon (2010-Present) * News 24 First @ Four (2010-Present) * News 24 Live @ Five (2010-Present) * News 24 Live @ Six (2010-Present) * News 24 Live @ Ten (2010-Present * News 24 Live @ Eleven (2010-Present) Station Branding History * 1996-2003 Super 24! * 2003-2015 WFTO * 2015-Present The 'FTO 24 Ownership History * 1996-Present Willis Communications, Inc. News Music Packages 1998-2010 Impact V.1 (615 Music) 2010-Present Right Here, Right Now (615 Music) Station Slogan History * "Super 24! The Best in Entertainment!" ''(1996-1999) * ''"Super 24: Liberty's SuperStation" (1999-2003) * ''"WFTO. We've got your Laughs!" ''(2003-2006) * ''"We are You. We are WFTO/Liberty City" ''(2006-2015) * ''"We are You. We are The 'FTO 24/Liberty City" ''(2015-Present) News Slogan History * ''"Coverage You Can Count On!" ''(1998-2004) * ''"First. Fast. Live." ''(2004-2010) * ''"Fast. Accurate. Dependable." ''(2010-Present) Website History * 1996-Present wfto.com Category:Liberty City Category:Liberty Category:Channel 24 Category:Television channels and stations established in 1996 Category:Independent Stations Category:Willis Communications, Inc